Calcutta, Sept. 27: Calcuttans, warn doctors, tend to take too seriously the medical advice of moderate drinking to ward of heart diseases, and end up drinking far above the permissible limits and risking heart attacks.

Concerned at the rise in cases of heart patients with a history of alcohol intake, the Cardiological Society of India (CSI) has shot off a warning to all its members to discourage patients from drinking regularly.

?Since alcohol can be addictive and people tend to take up suggestions of little-to-moderate drinking too seriously, they end up drinking too much at a single sitting. So, we have asked doctors not to advise even moderate drinking,? said cardiologist Ashok Kar, president-elect of CSI.

In the past year or so, out of 100 cases of alcoholic-related health problems, at least 20 per cent have been cardiac cases of either rhythm disturbances of the heart, clogging of arteries or cardiomyopathy (weakening of the heart muscles and tissue level damage).

?We have been getting a lot of patients with blocked arteries, who have a history of cardiac ailments and have quit smoking, but have continued to drink regularly. One or two pegs in a single sitting is fine, but most people end up drinking a lot more, causing serious damage to the heart, and not just to the liver and the brain,? says cardiac surgeon Ajay Kaul of BM Birla Heart Research Centre.

?The moment a lot of alcohol gets into the blood stream, the heart cannot pump blood in and out regularly, causing serious problems. This is one common reason for a moderate to serious heart attack,? adds senior cardiac surgeon Kunal Sarkar of the Rabindranath Tagore International Institute for Cardiac Sciences.

When consumed in large quantities over a long period of time, alcohol and junk food cause fatty deposits, not only damaging the liver but also the arteries.